It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood as McKinney Residents Help Feed the Hungry

Thursday morning started off cold and rainy. Miraculously, the dreariness was replaced by a glorious afternoon. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the sun forced pedestrians to remove their jackets and don their sunglasses. It was “a beautiful day in the neighborhood.”

Speaking of neighborhoods and neighbors, Thursday evening was the Empty Bowls fundraiser at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in McKinney. My senior art group completed 25 painted bowls for the big day. And at the event, I had the chance to see our bowls and the others displayed. I heard there were more than 225 donated bowls.

What an amazing turnout! The community was out in full force to support feeding the hungry. St. Peter’s is tucked away in the middle of a charming historic neighborhood. Many locals walked over for the event. I ran into dozens of friends. A lot of smiles, laughs, and hugs were exchanged. Each guest received a bowl of delicious soup provided by several local restaurants, a slice of bread, a dessert and a beverage.

A donation of $20 gave me the opportunity to select an empty bowl. I picked out a lovely hand-built coil bowl with a simple tree sketched on the front. The empty bowls are to remind us of the many people who still go hungry every day. The bowl is also a great reminder that neighbors and friends who gather together to help their community, are blessed many-fold. Thus, I was reminded that it was “a beautiful day in the neighborhood.”

Photos courtesy of Toni Andrukaitis
For more photos, see the photo gallery below.

Empty Bowls, with the tag line “Fight hunger, one bowl at a time”, is a project by St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, in partnership with the Kiwanis Club of McKinney, to create awareness of hunger in our local community and the communities around us.